Although I approve of this cut-throat league I probably won't participate although I would like too. The main reason is this.

In the old text based RPG's the attraction of the PK environment was that it was reasonably simple to participate in but also simple to rebuild the set of equipment. Getting Pked and loosing your set of Dwarven spiked and enchanted Iron sword involved a whole 10mins of killing the right mobs to replace that equipment. In a game that is based on RNG to obtain equipment the potential loss of that equipment is insanely detrimental.

Unless your are going to introduce a method that enables players to obtain a ground level basic set of equipment(ie a basic set of blues by class) by killing some defined mobs then a PK league will have a limited life and starting a new character will be very difficult.

On the flip side incorrect pairing and slaughtering of the youth will result is a very boring league. The only real way to counter this is to make it extremely rewarding to kill equivalent power or above (not just talking about level) and the reverse for lower power, unless you are the the defendant. Essentially making it so that killing someone below your level gives you nothing. The defendant retains all equipment.

I am just not convinced that level is a significant measure to work with. There is a massive difference between level 60 in "some Gear" and a level 60 in a well designed set of equipment with 20q spells and skills with perfect sockets.

The alternative is to make it a free for all and narrow the equipment power spread by a massive amount.

Ya'll have no idea how excited I am about Cutthroat. Please take some of my suggestions =) =)

Cutthroat league: There should only be one league, so that we can get the maximum # of players. As such, it should be soft core, as already stated by OP.

Invasion: You should be given a distinct notification that you are being invaded, music should change if it is enabled *cue MGS battle theme*. Alt-F4 and portal timers should be disabled completely. The only route of exit should be via the sole waypoint or the natural exit for the instance. Maps should now have 'natural' exits.

Revenge-friendly: If player A kills player B in an instance, as long as player B jumps back into that instance within 20~ (?) seconds, player A is "locked" in that same instance for an X amount of seconds, and would not be able to leave even via the natural exits/waypoints for that X amount of seconds, ensuring that if player B has revenge on his mind, he has a fair chance to execute it, over and over if he wishes =)

Item drops: When player A slays player B, he has 10~ seconds or so to walk up to the body, look over his equipment and choose one item that he would like to keep. Alternatively, he could wait out the 10 seconds, and RNG would decide what item/s drop, and if multiple items drop. So the slayer has a choice of a) getting 1 item of choice or b) getting at least 1 item and possibly more items at random. I'm not too sure about your entire arsenal dropping... would be very discouraging and would make revenge a lot harder. Although, if you chose to do it the way of everything dropping, it would be akin to hardcore, as in you lose everything when you die.

Elite Guard: On your character screen 'c', you should have the option of joining the Elite Guard. As long as you are in it, you can only invade/be invaded by people that are within 10% of your levels (if you are level20, range is 18-22, if level60, range of 54-66). The incentive is that while you are in the guard, slaying a player will give you the option to loot more # of items of your choice, and increasing the number of items that will drop at random if you choose to let it happen that way. The downside is that if you are slain in the Guard, others will also be able to loot more items off of you. Not sure if this is too complicated :P

IIQ/IIR: Cut-throat leagues should naturally have high item quantity and rarity. If the league gets merged with standard at the end, who cares? It will be your reward for risking so much!

Edit: One more thing, once invaded, any type of death will drop loot off your body. So you can't just wuss out and insta-righteousfire suicide or die to a monster, cuz loot will still drop off your body. although you would have a chance to reach your own dead body before the invading player could i suppose and collect your own loot.. lol (or risk dying a second time to the invading player and then lose even more loot). Interesting stuff =p

since its a cut throat event this should be a solo mode.. a "Free For All" makes sense as all people are not acquainted which ea other.. which makes people who forms parties or somekind of group have the advantage.. this event should be solo mode.. and there should be group modes.. :)

forming groups should be on long term leagues.. its not viable in this kind of events.. IMO..